In 1435 in Catania, in the shadow of Mt. Etna, the Guild of the Vigneri was founded. This association of winegrowers had the main scope to initiate the new generations to the knowledge of how to grow vines and produce wine around Europe’s highest volcano.Almost six centuries later, Salvo Foti brings back the association of I Vigneri. Salvo had understood that to make a real Etna wine – and not just a wine produced on Mt. Etna – he couldn’t do without the native men of the Muntagna. Around him, Salvo saw how the ancient knowledge was in peril of disappearance with a generation growing older. Hence the intuition to create a group of men with which to revitalize the ancient vineyards on the Vulcano, men of all ages – just as the vines they take care of – where the old can pass on their gestures and their wisdom to young people.

The Vigneri are able to do all the work that needs to be done in the vineyards throughout the year, just as it always had been on Mt. Etna: they crop, plow, plant and graft, repair the dry stone walls which support the rough lava stone terraces. Every October they are the main characters of the great feast of vintage on the volcano, repeating the same gestures of their predecessors in the early fifteenth century.

Five producers, old vineyards, scattered throughout Sicily – from Mt. Etna to Caltagirone and Vittoria. They all rely on the work of the Vigneri, under the leadership of Maurizio Pagano and Salvo Foti. The group is based on respect for the land and the common winemaking philosophy: bush-trained vines, native grape varieties, protection of the environment and respect for mankind.

Each of the associated producers maintains their identity, but communicates its adherence to the common philosophy by using the Vigneri bottle for their wines, showing the relief with the symbol of the consortium, the bush vine that has its roots in 1435.